Is it appropriate for a high school teacher to give his cell phone number to his students?
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Anonymous
Grooming? No. Inappropriate? Yes. All of what you mentioned can be sent through a site/app like remind or GroupMe where the parents AND students get it. It gets sent like a text message so instant notification but nothing sneaky about it. |
Anonymous
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No. Coaches, teachers, etc should never have sole communication with minors.
I am just going to throw scouts out here since they probably have the strictest rules (for good reason). Adult scout leader and scouts are prohibited from any communication that does not include parents. So every email my child sends his scout leader, I must be CC'd. Any texts between leaders and kids I must be included (although they have never texted). They use a discord server for posting messages and no private messages are permitted. Our sports teams use Team Snap or Game Changer for communication. |
Anonymous
High schools that follow SafeSport should be following these rules as well. It does not change Electronic communication includes but is not limited to phone calls, video calls, texts, social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc.), fitness applications, emails, and direct messaging that occurs between an Adult Participant and Minor Athlete(s). • Must be Open and Transparent. » A parent/guardian, another adult family member of the Minor Athlete, or another Adult Participant must be copied or included on the communication. » This includes all communication initiated by a Minor Athlete. • Only electronic platforms that allow Open and Transparent communication can be used. • All team communication or communications from an Adult Participant to more than one Minor Athlete must copy or include another Adult Participant, or all the Minor Athletes’ parents/guardians. • All communication should be professional in nature. • Organizations and Adult Participants must honor a parent/guardian’s request to discontinue communication with their Minor Athlete, unless there is an emergenc https://uscenterforsafesport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MAAPP_OnePagers_Communication.pdf#:~:text=A%3A%20It%20depends.%20If%20that%20adult%20athlete%20is,they%20can%20communicate%20one-on-one%20with%20the%20Minor%20Athlete. |
Anonymous
| every single sports team at our public hs has some kind of messaging group for the team which includes the coach. |
Anonymous
+1 Exactly and parents are allowed to be on the main chat if they want to although I odn't know if any one actually is. Kids do privately message the coach if they can't message practice sometimes. |
Anonymous
Y'all are missing the point. Your kid's coach may not be a groomer. S/he probably isn't! They are probably a great person, most coaches are! But the fact that this is practice is normalized is what allows groomers access to kids without their parents knowing what's going on. Unless safeguards are in place that everyone follows, INCLUDING THE COACHES WHO ARE NOT PEDOPHILES, then children will be harmed. Maybe not your kid. But someone's kid. Get it? |
Anonymous
Same for us. And I also have the coach’s contact info, which I use to arrange dinners, help with stuff that parents help with and the like. I would hate having my phone blow up with the daily minutiae of HS sports. Not down playing risks but seriously there is risk in even letting your kid on a sports team or even go to school for that matter. The answer isn’t wrapping them in bubble wrap but rather managing the risks in ways that help them learn, grow and become independent. |
Anonymous
| Texting with players one on one is common for coaches (not affiliated with school) in middle school and up. |
Anonymous
How does your child speak to teachers after class? How does he/she speak to coach after/before games? Are you present then too? Grooming was a thing long before cell phones |
Anonymous
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Yeah, for high school, there has been a group chat with the coach for every sport, every season. I would have significant concerns if they used Snapchat or another platform where texts are deleted.
Our concern with this is more that DS doesn’t always communicate everything to us. So then we are playing catch up a lot. But that’s a different story. |
Anonymous
This is a public communication system. Not the coach texting a kid separate which sets up the possibility of secrets. No comparison! |
Anonymous
Is this a serious question? Classrooms and sports fields are public spaces. I am a teacher and if I am speaking to a student privately, it's always in a public space like a hallway, in a classroom with the door open, or with another adult. Correspondence with students via email is only through our school email. I would never contact a student using text messages or through personal email. That is a very big no-no. "Grooming was a thing long before cell phones." Are you saying that since grooming has always taken place, we should not put in safeguards to prevent it? What are you even arguing here? |
Anonymous
You are so correct but as evidenced by many of the responses here it's actually many of the parents who appear to be complete morons. |
Anonymous
| As a teacher, it's a no. For a coach, maybe. If there is no other means to get quick information out, like say a cancellation or field change last minute, then text - not snapchat - might be ok. And it's not as bad if they've simply given team members their own cell for emergencies. But it would be better if they simply used one of many sport-specific apps available for that purpose. And if the kids are not driving themselves around, then it would be more appropriate to provide that info to parents instead. |
Anonymous
Did op say this was one on one? I didn't get that impression. |